Totally forgot to write a blog about my top five games of 2012, but better late than never. My goal in 2012 was to experiment with new genre's and franchises, and I'm so glad I did. I played a total of 26 titles. I played RPG's, platformers, puzzlers and some older classics. Last year was also my jump onto the PS3 and the third-person shooter genre. I played a ton of Mario and Kirby games too.

Now, to make things interesting, I decided to make this list considering every game I bought and played in 2012. Yes, that means games like Yoshi's Island and Uncharted are up for nomination. I wanted to make a list resembling what I thought was the very best I played that year. It really wouldn't be that much fun choosing from seven games from 2012 anyway.

Another thing to keep in mind... I only have a PS3, Wii and 3DS. No 360 games or computer games will be here. I'm not here to make a list that everyone agrees with. I'm here to share my favorite games of 2012.

Before we begin, let me put down a list of every game I played. 123 GO!!!

Luigi's Mansion Kid Icarus: Uprising

Dr. Mario Online RX Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Kirby's Dreamland The Last Story

Mercury Hg Pokemon Conquest

Mario Kart 7 Final Fantasy XIII

Art Style: Pictobits Mario Picross

Shatter Xenoblade Chronicles

Super Mario Bros. Kirby Mass Attack

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Mario Vs. Donkey Kong

Yoshi's Island Kirby's Adventure

New Super Mario Bros. 2 Pushmo

Journey Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Flower Super Paper Mario

If you prefer a video, I made one just for you! You can watch or read the countdown. Enjoy!

Now that all that's out of the way, lets get to it.

5. Final Fantasy XIII

Wow. Spectacular

I like a pretty game when I see one, but man is this a fantastic looking game. I always looked forward to the cinematic, pre-rendered cut scenes that followed battles to learn more of the plot about Cocoon and Pulse. It takes a while to get the terms down, but the crystal/monster mythology proves interesting all the way to the end. Sure, the linearity prevented exploration for the first half of the game, but the categories XIII did decide to focus on; Gameplay and Story, are excellent. The fast paced strategic battles are fresh and exciting, and the boss battles really pack a punch. I honestly liked the characters a lot because they felt realistic and different from any other game I played, not to mention the voice acting for each is executed superbly. Those reasons and more, are why I start off my list with Final Fantasy 13.

4. Pushmo

Mallo gave me the best puzzle experience ever.

I never thought something as simple as pulling and pushing blocks would be so addictive, but it turns out it is. If I were to grade each of the games I played this year solely on Gameplay, Mallo would stand above them all. Pushmo hooks you instantly by combining two brilliant genres together; puzzles and platforming. The tutorials are easy to understand, the ability to create your own designs and share them with others is awesome, and the difficulty is just right. I managed to get this for free, but even at seven dollars Pushmo gives you terrific bang for your buck. It's the best seven dollars you will ever spend on a video game.

3. Mario Kart 7

Oh, Mario Kart 7. You might as well be married to me.

If this list was arranged by the most hours invested in each game, Mario Kart 7 would zoom straight to the top. This game fills the gaps in the boring points of my life. If I need to take a break from homework, I play some Mario Kart. If I'm waiting on dinner, I'll be equipping my Shy Guy with a birthday girl kart, wood wheels, and a purple bat glider (I know it doesn't match). I never get tired of Mario Kart. There's enough depth and variety in the tracks, and the online offers the competitive challenge I can't get enough of. Some of my favorite tracks include Shy Guy Bazaar (shown above), Piranha Plant Slide, and SNES Rainbow Road.

2. Xenoblade Chronicles

I can't believe this originally wasn't coming to the US.

Afraid that a 2012 title wasn't going to make the list. Well, your wrong, because it did, and it absolutely deserves it. While Final Fantasy XIII and the Last Story provided great twists to the RPG, Xenoblade revolutionizes the genre. You can warn teammates about incoming attacks, move freely, unleash chain combos, customize from head-to-toe, in and out, explore beautiful overwhelming environments, fight massive bosses, and play hundreds of side quests. I haven't even mentioned the story, which includes a quirky cast, a mysterious weapon, and a few surprises of its own. Its intense, its epic, its Xenoblade Chronicles, and its my runner up for GOTY.

And now for the reveal!

iceflower4me's golden 2012 GOTY is...

Mystery. Hardship. Freedom.

Journey (iceflower4me's 2012 Game of The Year)

Yup. A two hour game was my favorite game of last year. Its my favorite game because it offered a stunning, realistic, but magical adventure. There were moments when I was swept off my feet, was scared, saw glimmers of hope, and even wanted to cry. All of these emotions rush through your body without a script and no voice acting.

The first time I played through Journey, I didn't even know I was playing with actual people until I saw their usernames after the credits. The single note speech encourages players to work together and communicate, making every playthrough special. So while Journey is a two hour game, it's one that can be played over and over, from start to finish.

Although it may not be clear what someone else is saying, you and your partner know your destination, and know that it's easier for the both of you to stick together. This game forms relationships that stay in your memory for months. I remember one encounter where I shouted back and forth with a stranger to float higher and higher in the skies. After we settled down, we said goodbye to each other by nodding several times and drawing hearts in the soft ground. That right there was my favorite gaming moment of 2012.

Its amazing how the landscapes and story are all fiction. I wish I could be there sliding through sand, flying and lighting ribbons to my hearts content. There's a part of me that wants to learn more about what lies beyond and what happened, while the other half appreciates Journey allowing you to interpret the tale in your own way. It provides a great escape from all the stupid crap that happens in reality. The musical score is legendary, especially the credits track "I Was Born For This". If you own a PS3, you have to download this game. If you don't have a PS3, well, you should get one.

This game left me in total aw. No game has ever impacted me so much. Then came Journey.

That concludes my top five. Did you like Journey as much as I did? Do you think Kid Icarus Uprising should have made the list? What were your favorite games of last year? Let me know in the comments below. Thank you for reading/watching!

New Super Mario Bros. 2, Shatter, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Flower, Luigi's Mansion, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards are some of the games I got to play last year. One of these games I have yet to complete. Lets find out how great I feel these games are, and which one I put to the side.

New Super Mario Bros. 2

I wanted more 2D Mario action after playing 3D Land and Galaxy, so I bought NSMB2. The level design was mostly great, and the amount of secrets in the game is overwhelming. Half of the game is basically out of reach unless you make the effort to unlock it. Bros. 2 wasn't afraid of creating structures that extended beyond the 3DS screen. Witnessing the behavior of golden Boo's and Lakitu's and figuring out how to better hack at a level to collect more coins was a delight. Its too bad the bosses were easy. My biggest complaint has to go to the music, as a more annoying "ha" was added to every recycled track in the game. Despite the shortage of "New", Mario manages to shine brightly, using each of its few power ups creatively, while challenging you with its coin rush mode, secret areas, and star coins. My Score: 8.5

Shatter

IGN set Shatter pretty high on their list of best PSN games, so I bought it, and well, it shattered my expectations. Shatter is everything you'd want from a modern brick breaking game. The ability to pull and push away objects helps in finishing off leftover bricks and is implemented in boss battles. The graphics are cool and the techno soundtrack adds to the experience. The difficulty wasn't punishing, nor was the campaign particularly long. Its the depth Shatter adds to the formula in bonuses and different kinds of blocks that make it entertaining and worth replaying. My Score: 8.2

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

This was my first step into third person shooters, and I'll admit I died more than once. Even so, I enjoyed pretty much everything this game offered. The shooting mechanics were basic enough for me to get into, and the enemy provided a good challenge by not always staying put. The plot was about finding treasure, but I thought it wasn't entirely predictable. The narrative was cinematic, presented with great audio, appealing main characters, and impressive graphics. Cracking puzzles by understanding the clues included in Drake's Journal, along with the platforming, were excellent ways of switching up gameplay, but riding vehicles wasn't the best. Other than that, Uncharted is the full package. I'm looking forward to finishing the series. My Score: 8.7

Flower

I vaguely saw this game a few years ago and wondered what it was about, so I used my PSN card on it. Beautiful was my first impression of Flower. Everything was animated crisply and elegantly. Collecting pedals was relaxing. Seeing the world react to the forces of nature felt amazing. The poetic tale left me thinking and curious till the epic end. Flower's scenes are so comforting, I could stare at them for hours. No game has ever communicated to me those emotions before. What a wonderful game. My Score: 8.5

Luigi's Mansion

Luigi's Mansion was received as a present. It was severely scratched, but my friend got it for two bucks, and it surprisingly worked. Luigi cracked me up in this game. His reactions, along with the extremely catchy music, were my favorite parts of LM. The gameplay was good also, but I felt combat was a bit shallow. Boss battles were straightforward, and other than the elemental change up, your only weapon was the vacuum. The puzzles were fun and filled with character. Discovering Mario's items and hearing the Fortune Teller's response was a nice touch, but I would have wanted a way to use gems in gameplay. Overall, this game has aged well. I consider it a classic, even though its a short one. My Score: 8.0

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Kirby 64 was the one I didn't finish. I'll get back to it eventually, but for now it has left a bad taste in my mouth. I had a pretty good time with Kirby in the first levels, but as things got tougher, the mechanics kept bothering the heck out of me. I appreciate the focus on platforming, but it takes way too much effort for Kirby to float upward. Many power-ups when activated, acted on their own, so it was difficult to know when they would stop. This especially bothered me when moving from one tiny piece of ground to the other.

The game has many great ideas. An adorable art style with creative 3D effects. The challenge of exploring levels for crystals. I'll admit the level design wasn't half bad either, perhaps a bit too simple. I liked when other characters like Waddle Dee jumped in on the adventure. Fusing copy abilities together is an excellent idea too, but half the time, it was easier to play without them, and the restricted movement of Kirby discouraged me from finding crystals. Maybe I'm just bad at the game. Ultimately, I had a rather frustrating time with Kirby 64. My Score: 7.0

And on that not so positive note, thanks for reading part three of my series. I expect two more parts before the final blog, where I reveal my top five games of 2012. If you're interested in reading my input on the following games, copy & paste the URL's below or visit my blog. Until next time, see ya!

This is part two of the Games I Played This Year (GIPTY). Today, I wanted to talk about my time with Final Fantasy 13, its sequel, a couple classic sidescroller's, and an addictive Mario puzzler on Wii. One title disappointed me, but which one? Let's find out. (Before we begin, I want to remind everyone that this is my honest opinion and it doesn't have to be yours. Thanks.)

Final Fantasy XIII

I bought this game in February and as much as you want me to say this was the downer of my gaming year, its wasn't. This was my number one reason for getting a PS3, and to hear so much hate about it was unfortunate. Though it took awhile to understand the plot with all their fal'cie and l'cie terms, I found it to be rather unique and interesting. The same goes for the characters. Hope and Lightning weren't the most likable protagonists, but they and the rest of the group felt realistic and much different from any other characters I've ever played in a video game. You went on a journey with these characters, witnessing their challenges, accomplishments and themselves evolving into stronger people in the face of despair. The voice acting was perfect and even matched the mouth movements. The graphics are unbelievably crisp, with cut scenes that took my breath away. The art style is beautiful, detailed and delivered in big scope, even though the structure of the game was linear for the first 25 hours.

I didn't mind the linearity because in general, I don't handle adventure games well, as I often get lost, but I agree that exploration would have improved the whole experience. I loved the real time strategy focused battle system. It was one of three games this year that changed my mind about what future RPG's could look like. However, gameplay became stale sometimes because you were doing so much of the same thing for so long. That's when long, intense boss fights shook things up. You had to figure out how to best handle its biggest blows and man, can they be brutal. Reworking your team and leveling them up is absolutely necessary in order to move forward. Still, I would have wanted some interactivity in the battles and variety in the adventure. Overall, Final Fantasy 13 is a good game and a great experience. My Score: 8.5

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Less than two years after XIII finally came out, XIII-2 was released hoping to provide a superior, non linear sequel, and they for the most part succeeded, but my playthrough of XIII-2 was full of frustration and disappointment. I enjoyed the improved battle system, monster collecting and the expanded exploration, but the focus of finding invisible objects was tiring, especially when monsters interrupt you every ten seconds. Searching would be fine if you didn't have to fulfill side quests, but some are required to accomplish travel to new worlds. I got to my tipping point when I heard I had to collect five Graviton Cores to move forward. This meant I had to look through five large areas, some of which I needed to unlock (which would have to be done by finding more objects) to try to find a Core that you can only notice if you stopped and stared at the air to see that something small and transparent is slightly moving. It drove me nuts! I had to battle through several dozens of monsters before discovering artifacts, so my party leveled up fast, which left the last eight hours of the game with low difficulty. I would have had a better time with this game if I had an idea of what part of the map an item was located, and if some of the things looked like what they actually are, instead of the same sphere.

From the environmental puzzles, to the interactive parts in the gameplay, I appreciate the effort put in delivering variety in the adventure, but I did not enjoy the mini games too much, especially the anomaly's, which included the infamous clock puzzles (those really pissed me off). The loading times are long, the graphics are noticeably lower in quality, and the storytelling is a jumbled mess. It is much easier to understand than XIII's story, and it gives you different perspectives on the risks of time travel, but it can be confusing at times, and the material here is somewhat unoriginal. Besides from Lightning and Moogle, none of the main characters really stood out to me, and I would have wanted more playable characters. The voice acting is still excellent. The musical composition is well done. The shops are more useful and leveling up characters is a simpler process. The ability to travel to other environments in different dimensions is sweet.

I don't know. I had an equal amount of good times with the game as I did bad. Maybe I spent too time trying to find out how to unlock extra worlds and I wasn't that good at it. XIII-2 definitely improved over the first, but the many frustrations I had, along with the forgettable story, are the reasons why I prefer XIII. My Score: 8.0

Super Mario Bros.

Even though Super Mario Bros came out years before I was born, I still wanted to play it. I got that chance when Nintendo gave 3DS ambassadors (including me) a free download of Super Mario Bros. and its still a fun game. Definitely harder than the "New" series, but still addicting. Like with Kirby's Dreamland, I enjoyed viewing Mario and his world in classic, 8-bit style, discovering what has influenced the franchise. I could listen to the soundtrack forever. I actually wake up to songs from the game courtesy of the DSiWare app Mario Clock. Anyway, as for this specific version, the screen looks pretty tiny compared to GBA games on the 3DS, but the saving feature make this challenging platformer possible for anyone to complete. Though the game limited itself to a few different areas and mechanics, the level design always surprised and impressed me. If Super Mario Bros is this good, I have to play the sequels. My Score: 9.0

Dr. Mario Online RX

Dr. Mario was also on my list of downloadable's to purchase, so I had to get it when Club Nintendo offered Online RX as a reward. I didn't think much of the game before I played it, but once I did, I was addicted. The falling piece puzzler looks simple, but matching colors is more of a challenge since two colors, whether the same or different, fall together at the same time. This was especially fun in local multi-player. I remember going back and forth winning and losing against my friend seeking revenge. Going online with the game isn't bad. Its just kinda pointless now, since not that many are playing anymore and you're set with a strong opponent when you first go online. The touch controls are a nice diversion, but I would have wanted more types of viruses. Still, a very solid puzzler. My Score: 8.0

Kirby's Adventure

It was a joy to play this game again. My first Kirby game was Nightmare in Dreamland, and it didn't take me long to realize Adventure was the original game. Although I enjoyed the remake more, I like the challenge Kirby's Adventure brought to the table in terms of level design and secrets, some of which I'll never figure out. The boss battles are well executed; they're very creative and different from each other. However, I felt button response wasn't as quick as it should have been. I encountered many situations where before contact, my slash or fire didn't strike fast enough. This often resulted in me losing my copy ability. Defeating bosses for me was easier just as Kirby, so I didn't have much motivation to use them. There are many levels in Adventure, but they're very short. It bother's me sometimes, but this allows players to platform as long as they want, whether it be an hour or a minute. No matter how long you'll play, you can't deny the charm of Kirby's first adventure in color, with copy abilities. My Score: 8.0

That ends part two of my GIPTY series. Look forward to part three soon. If you played XIII-2, or any of these games, what did you think of them? Comment below and thanks for reading. To check out part one, where I complain about Kid Icarus: Uprising (only a little), head to the URL below. Until next time, see ya!

Hey Guys! Its iceflower4me. Been awhile, but I'm officially back. Today I wanted to make a video about the surprisingly low scores of the latest New Super Mario game and what my thoughts were on their judgments. Will I be getting the game at launch? Find out in the video below! Enjoy!

Wow, what a showing right? 3DS XL, Kirby's Dream Collection, Pokemon, Mario, Professor Layton and more were talked about last night. With all this great news, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one thinking, "Why didn't they show this at E3 in the first place?"

Anyway, here's my thoughts on the news below. One thing I forgot to mention was Mario (Mario, how could you forget about Mario?!). I'm definitely pleased to hear Mario Bros. 2 will be getting DLC after the games release. It sounds like one addicting game that looks like it will provide dozens of more hours of gameplay than the first. I'm also excited about the 3DS XL. I know some think it looks cheap (and I'm not into the coloring either), but the improvements over the original overshadow that to me. If there was one thing I would have wanted from the presentation, it would have been an announcement of Pandora's Tower being released in the US. Oh well.